Billa perched amid the rubble on the shelf that had been their original entry point to the Lonely Mountain. Though the dwarves had been working hard over the past several weeks to repair the damage Smaug had dealt to the halls of Erebor, the interior was a higher priority, and there was a lot to repair. The Hall of Kings (the floor of which was now impressively coated with gold) had been the first to be restored to its former (and now improved) glory. That was where the coronation ceremony had been held. Billa scowled into her knees and drew her legs a littler tighter against her chest. Stupid ceremony. Stupid mountain. Stupid Thorin.

"If he'd just asked," she grumped, shifting on the hard rocks. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she finished the sentence, as though afraid someone would hear. "I would have said yes." The quiet that fell around her was broken by birdcalls and the shouts of the men of Dale as they celebrated the closing of the workday. It was curious, Billa thought as she looked down into the valley below, how the Men and Dwarves both had such different ways to celebrate. The men shouted and laughed and danced, lighting fires and drinking ale. The dwarves pretended to have very stately ceremonies and paused often to pose majestically for the audience, while in reality, the real celebrations were loud, messy feasts and copious amounts of alcohol. Drinking games, coarse jokes, and, on occasion, braiding circles.

Billa smiled at the memory. She'd laughed the first time she'd caught Fili, Kili, and Thorin engaged in braiding one another's hair. Fili's beard was starting to fill out and he was very proud of it, though Kili was the one that braided it for him. Kili's scruff marked him as a youngster, and Thorin… Billa had never been sure about why Thorin didn't grow a full beard like the others. She thought it might have had something to do with holding on to the past. Her fingers traveled up to the three short braids behind her left ear. There were heavy silver beads at the ends, and she could feel them if she moved her head… but they'd been there for over two weeks now, and she hardly noticed them anymore. Thorin's beads, Kili had told her, though he hadn't explained why Thorin was letting her use them.

"Billa!"

The hobbit's thoughts were interrupted by a lonely cry from below. She was startled to see that it was nearly dark, though it had been only a little past midday when she stormed out the front gates.

"Billa Baggins!"

"That's not her name anymore, idiot." Fili's scornful tone was followed by a soft thumping sound, as though he'd hit his brother. Kili yelped.

"Well she's not likely to answer to 'Your Majesty,' now is she?" he retorted, and Billa could imagine he was rubbing his arm and frowning at Fili. She smothered a laugh.

"You don't think she's up there, do you?"

"I'm not climbing that in the dark."

"But if she is up there, she'll have to climb down in the dark, won't she?"

"Good point. But what if she doesn't want to come down?"

"I don't know." There was a short pause, then a much louder yell, as though they thought she couldn't hear them- "Billa! Are you up there?"

She hesitated for a moment, considering how to reply. If she didn't, she'd be spending the night up here, and that wasn't a pleasant thought. There wasn't nearly the force behind her anger that there had been, now it was more of a quiet disappointment.

"I'm up here," she called down at length.

It was quite a job, getting down the rough slope to the valley floor. Kili insisted on carrying her bag, Fili held her elbow, and together they marched back into Erebor. She didn't realize that they weren't taking her to her own chambers until they pushed her through the door and Thorin was standing pensively in the corner.

He turned to look at the door, and when he saw her, he froze. Thorin's face was as unreadable as the stone walls that surrounded him, but Billa could tell by the way his hands shifted from being clasped behind him, to being clasped in front, that he was preparing to be diplomatic. She frowned slightly, but reminded herself of the five seconds rule and held her tongue.

"Miss Ba-… Billa." Thorin shifted slightly, spreading his feet and taking a defensive stance.

"You're not helping yourself." Billa's tone was testy, but she was trying very hard to control herself.

"What?" Thorin's eyes widened slightly and the halfling scowled at him.

"Stop and look at yourself, Thorin. You look like you're about to talk to that incorrigible ambassador from the Blue Mountains again. I'm not going to attack you- for goodness' sake, just relax." She saw him hesitate for a moment, thinking about his words before saying them. In a way, she respected him for it, and on the other hand, it irritated her to no end.

"I am relaxed," he said at last. Billa grunted her frustration to no one in particular and lunged across the space between them. Thorin stopped her with firm gesture, and Billa stumbled back a step, winded.

"If you were relaxed, you wouldn't have your guard up," she snarled. "It's been like this for days, Thorin! You avoid me, you don't look at me, you hardly speak to me- no one bothers to mention that we're getting married?! Honestly, Thorin, did you think through this at all?"

Something in the dwarf seemed to change. Until now, she'd not really noticed, but as he lowered his eyebrows and glowered at her, Billa realized that it had been months since Thorin had spoken to her in anything but a very gentle tone.

Ooh... I just made him mad...

Thorin advanced a step and for a moment, Billa was afraid. He towered over her. Seven inches. Seven whole inches, and it really showed. His chest was deep and his shoulders broad, his arms thick with muscle and right now, she could see the tendons in his neck standing out, since his hair was pulled back into neat, dark braids that she thought looked rather fetching on him.

"Yes, Billa Baggins, actually, I did. I thought about it very hard, and for a very long time." He took another step forward and Billa retreated, her knees shaking slightly. He wasn't done. "I have cared deeply for you and protected you for a very long time. When we finally took back the mountain I thought you would be happy, but all you talked about was going back to your precious Shire. If it weren't for Balin and Dwalin, I would have let you walk out of my life forever- and I never would have been able to live with myself. I made sure it was all done right, all traditional and proper, and you can't stop having your little fit long enough to appreciate all I've done for you!"

Billa felt the tears collecting in her eyes and mustered the strength for one strong statement before they started to fall. She had meant to say something about his "tradition" and how "proper" it was to marry someone without asking first, but what actually came out was- "I'm not having a fit, I'm having a baby!"